In general, we invite our friends and relatives only when you perform marriage function for giving food and clothes. Sacrifice is to be done based on the deservingness. The sacrifice to undeserving is a sin and consequently, the newly married couple undergoes sufferance. But, the same sacrifice done to deserving people reaps good fruits and the new couple enjoys the married life. Sage Vyasa says that both sacrificing to undeserving and not sacrificing to deserving result in sin. But, you invite based on your blind love towards your friends and relatives.

Hence, most of the people are only undeserving and do not practice even the minimum worldly justice. The newly married couple suffers because of the ill blessings of these undeserving people. So, you should not go in the line of Arjuna, who was blinded by the relations at the start of the Gita, but invite the deserving with the discrimination and offer food and clothes to them. This makes the married life of the couple filled with happiness. If such deserving people are not found, you distribute the food to beggars. Atleast, they will not throw the food, which is the basic eligibility for the receiver of food as per the Veda (Annam Na Parichaksheeta …).

Lot of food is wasted in the present day marriage feasts. Once, a feast was going on at one place. Some people are enjoying the feast throwing lot of food in the plates on one side of wall. On the other side of the wall, some people are searching plate by plate and eating the leftover food. A devotee of Bhagavan Shri Satya Sai asked Him like this. ‘What is this paradox in the creation? On one side, people are throwing the food and on the other side, people are searching for such thrown food!' Shri Baba replied the devotee with all serenity. ‘Those, who are eating the food in the thrown away plates, also threw the food in their previous births. They are searching the same thrown food now in these plates'. So, who ever throws the food, will get the birth of beggar in the births to come.

Even the parent of bride, who arranged the feast and the parent of groom, who brought the undeserving, will also share the sin (kartaa kaarayitaachaiva…) and also get the births of beggars proportionate to the number of plates in which food is thrown. The word ‘Pari' in the Vedic verse ‘Parichaksheeta' means that not even a morsel of food should be thrown. Similarly, money also should not be misutilized i.e., should not be spent in wrong channels. Otherwise, the future births will be filled with poverty. The right channels of spending money are giving to daughter or deserving people or donating to deserving beggars. Giving to undeserving people or spending unnecessarily beyond ones own capacity are wrong channels.

The people, who have thrown food, insulted Goddess Annapurna and those, who have spent money in unnecessary channels, insulted Goddess Lakshmi. Such people will taste the anger of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu respectively. The parent of bride spends as per his capacity and love and arranges the function accordingly to respect the guests. These arrangements form the spending towards conducting of the marriage. The respect and love shown by host should be natural and should not be demanded. The guests should not even mention that such and such service is required. Otherwise, they are not receiving real respect and love at all. Natural respect and love shown by host are only real. The natural respect and love shown by parent of bride should be admired and this is only the noble tradition.